I realize that I've never really made a stereotypical North American meal for this blog. It's always Vietnamese, Italian, Jordanian, etc. Anything but 'Western' food. Normally, the idea of food that is popular in Canada or the US, such as sloppy joes and curly fries, makes me shudder. However, there is something appealing about chicken fingers. They remind me of childhood in a collective way - except for the very sheltered, who can claim that they did not partake of chicken fingers as a kid? Or can claim that they never double dipped them in the sauce? Or wonder what animal was compressed into these odd and mysterious stick-like breaded . . . things?

Last night, I had three lovely friends over, all who went to the LLC. I remembered that John likes chicken fingers, and so, that made my menu for the night easy.

We were a little more sophisticated than the average child however, for we accompanied our chicken fingers with yam fries (who even eats regular potato fries anymore?!). T'was a lovely evening. Even more so because we relived the culinary traditions of childhood. Yum.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Rub, or spray, a baking sheet with olive oil. Place the chicken strips in a bowl, drizzle the olive oil on top, and stir to coat evenly.

2. In a plastic bag, combine the bread crumbs and spices. Add two chicken strips at a time and shake the bag to coat them. Remove them and place on the baking sheet. Repeat this until all the strips have been coated.

3. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn them over and bake for another 5 - 10 minutes until they are done.

4. Blend the ingredients for the sauce together until smooth. Place in a small dish and set aside.

5. Serve the strips with the dipping sauce.

6. Pray. Eat. Enjoy. Become a child again when eating chicken fingers.